The Assembly thus calls on the Israeli authorities to work
with UNICEF, the International Committee of the Red Cross, civil
society and all relevant stakeholders with a view to changing, as
appropriate, laws, practice and attitudes so as to fully protect
the rights of Palestinian children in the Israeli justice system.
The Assembly stands ready to assist the Knesset and the Palestinian
authorities in this regard. In particular, the Assembly recommends
that:
6.1 the provisions of international
law related to the rights of children (including of children in
conflict with the law) be fully applied, and endeavours be made
to apply the higher Council of Europe standards included in its
Guidelines on child-friendly justice, thus truly making the best
interests of the child a primary consideration;
6.2 each individual case be carefully reviewed before any
intervention takes place, to ascertain whether the arrest, detention
or imprisonment of a child is really necessary, mindful of the provisions
of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC),
which stipulate that such arrest, detention or imprisonment of a
child shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the
shortest appropriate period of time;
6.3 night-time arrests (or summons) of children in their homes
and night-time interrogations be avoided;
6.4 handcuffing and strip-searching children be limited as
far as possible, and the blindfolding/hooding of children be prohibited;
6.5 parents be promptly notified of an arrest, the reasons
therefore, and the place where the child is detained;
6.6 all forms of physical, psychological or other abuse of
children during arrest, transit and waiting periods – and during
interrogations themselves – be ended (including coercive tactics
to make minors confess or sign confessions in a language they do
not understand), and that measures be taken to prevent such abuse;
6.7 audiovisual recordings of all interrogations be made mandatory,
and that children be informed of their rights in a language and
manner they can understand, so that they can exercise their rights effectively,
including the right to remain silent and to speak to a lawyer before
interrogations;
6.8 the rules on interrogations be revised to make them consistent
with the Council of Europe Guidelines on child-friendly justice,
and the conditions under which bail and plea bargains are granted be
revised to make them consistent with the UNCRC;
6.9 no child be held in administrative detention or solitary
confinement for any reason;
6.10 Palestinian children be held in facilities located in
the occupied Palestinian territories and that the rights of family
members to visit be fully respected in practice;
6.11 a system of effective oversight be put in place to prevent
and punish ill-treatment of Palestinian children in the Israeli
justice system, ensuring redress and adequate reparation to child
victims of ill-treatment and ending the impunity for the perpetrators
of such abuse.
